Determining the Presence of a Virtual Address in a Cache

1. An information carrier medium containing software that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to: receive status information from circuit logic that collects the status information from caches associated with different processor cores; and provide said information to a user of said software; wherein the status information indicates whether one of said caches comprises an entry associated with a virtual address.

2. The information carrier medium of claim 1 , wherein the software causes the processor to sort the status information according to a criterion specified by a user of the software.

3. The information carrier medium of claim 1 , wherein the status information comprises valid bit information associated with at least some of said caches.

4. The information carrier medium of claim 1 , wherein the status information comprises dirty bit information associated with at least some of said caches.

5. A system, comprising: a cache subsystem configured according to a hierarchy comprising a plurality of cache levels; and a control logic coupled to said cache subsystem, said control logic adapted to collect status information from caches levels associated with different processor cores and to provide said status information to a destination; wherein the status information indicates whether one of said cache levels comprises an entry associated with a virtual address.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein said destination comprises a processor that sorts the status information according to a criterion specified by a user.

7. The system of claim 5 , wherein the status information comprises valid bit information associated with at least some of said cache levels.

8. The system of claim 5 , wherein the status information comprises dirty bit information associated with at least some of said cache levels.

9. A method, comprising: collecting status information from storages associated with a plurality of processor cores; transferring said status information from said storages to a control logic coupled to the storages; and providing said status information to a user; wherein the status information indicates whether one of said storages comprises an entry associated with a virtual address.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising sorting said status information according to a criterion specified by said user.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein said status information comprises valid bit information associated with at least some of said storages.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein said status information comprises dirty bit information associated with at least some of said storages.

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein collecting status information from said storages comprises collecting status information from caches or memory.